Page 220 of His Fated Luna

It wasn’t until a few hours later that Rose was finally given little Elena to hold. She had the cutest tuft of curly black hair and the deepest greeneyes anyone had ever seen. The baby wolf already had me wrapped around her little finger. I was in complete awe of the tiny life we had created together. Rose was looking at her like she had fallen in love all over again. But this was a totally different type of love. It was the unconditional and purest love a mother had for her child.

Dr. Danvers made Rose shift into her wolf form and then shift back into her human form. As if delivery hadn’t been tough enough. She’d had to go through shifting after so long as well. But the doctor was adamant that it was necessary to make sure her wolf’s regenerative abilities were back.

“That's why you asked me to bite you, isn’t it?” I queried once we sat together that night in the hospital room while Rose nursed our baby. “You knew it would help reverse the effects of your condition.”

“I had a feeling,” Rose said hastily. Her eyes flicked down to Elena who moved back from her mother’s breast.

Rose lifted the baby against her shoulder to burp her.She was learning how to breastfeed and it was proving to be a difficult experience.One where Rose had almost quit multiple times but the lactation consultant along with Mom, who’d stopped by earlier to gush over her grandchild, had been fiercely adamant that Rose keep trying.

“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to get your hopes up for nothing.” Rose looked at me apologetically. “Lately, I always felt re-energized after your bites. But after a while, the effect wore off. I thought maybe it was your bite that gave me that little pick me up. I hypothesized that maybe it could help with my condition? Of course, it had to be done right before delivery, when the effects were the strongest. If you did it the night before, I was afraid it would wear off and I’d be back at square one again. I stayed up all night, going over my theory, trying to look for anything that could go wrong with it.” Rose shrugged, giving me a half-smile. “I’m glad I was right.”

“You’re a fucking genius,” I said with admiration tinging my words. “You only need one piece of the puzzle to be able to fit it all together.”

Rose glowed from the pride evident in my voice. Elena let out a small burp as if to agree with her father.We laughed. Relieved and glad that we had made it out of the woods again.

Epilogue

Aiden's POV

Seven years later…

“How’re Elena and Xander?” Rose asked sleepily as she looked at the two slumbering newborns in their cots in her room.

“As fine as can be,” I assured her tiredly. “They’re enjoying being with Mom and you know how Tanya and the boys love playing with them.”

Rose smiled.

We knew Elena adored being around "cool Aunt Tanya" who was only eight years older than her. And three-year-old Xander loved playing ball with his uncles. Rose had been worried for no reason. The kids barely registered the fact that she wasn’t home.

“They’re not missing me, are they?” Rose queried, just to be sure.

“More like excited to have new siblings.”My eyes went to rest on the sleeping twin boys Rose had just given birth to earlier today.

But this time, it had been complicated. Her placenta accreta hadn’t healed like it should have. My bite hadn’t been as effective as it had been the last two times. She’d almost had to have a hysterectomy. As it was, she’d lost too much blood: four pints which was nearly half the entire amount of blood in her body. We were lucky Dr. Danvers was always careful and had made arrangements so that they’d had her blood type on hand.

I had already realized it was time to call it quits. Four was a good number. I was happy with the kids we had. And I definitely didn’t want to go through what we’d gone through today ever again. There was a point where Rose nearly flat-lined. If it hadn’t been for her wolf’s regenerative abilities kicking in, I might have lost her today.

“There’s only one you, Rose,” I said softly.

I looked at her, hoping she understood what I was trying to say. What would I do without her? I needed her.We’d been through so much together. She’d kept me sane through all the trials and tribulations.We’d lived together in New York for a while which had been a unique experience.We’d managed to care for Elena together while juggling school and taking on minimal pack duties. Luckily, Tony’s mate had stepped up to take on a lot of Rose’s duties while we’d been in New York.

It was as Rose was finishing up med-school that she broke the news of Xander’s impending birth. Rose hadn't had her next heat until Elena was three. Probably because of the hormones her body produced while lactating. It worked out because a few months later, Rose informed me she was two months pregnant. Her placenta increta hadn’t been nearly as severe with Xander. Dr. Danvers deduced that our son’s alpha genes were helping to keep it at bay. The boy was helping to keep his mother healed.

But these two twins had been an entirely different story. They might or might not be alphas. But Rose’s placenta had ended up growing past her uterus and into her bladder with them. They almost removed her entire uterus, but her own regenerative abilities had started kicking in, paving the way to an easy removal of placenta stuck to her insides. It had been painful to watch, and even more painful to endure.

I had decided then and there we weren’t going to have any more kids after this. I could not and would not let Rose go through this pain again. Plus, four kids were enough.We'd have to be crazy to try and have more. I was a hands-on father, trying to divide my time amongst my children while still fulfilling my alpha duties.

Plus, as if the procedure with the twins hadn’t been bad enough, Dr. Danvers then discovered that a part of her placenta had remained stuck to her bladder and when they tried to remove it, it caused a gaping hole inside her organ. The delivery room had looked like something out of a grisly murder scene. There had been so much blood. And I had been so afraid. Trying to stop reliving the events from earlier that day, I lifted a hand to brush against Rose’s pale one.

Rose gave me a small smile of understanding.It was looking like she must have understood what I meant, what I’d decided as long as she was fine with it. There was no more second guessing between us. And she agreed with me.

“Truth be told, I’d already thought that after these twins, it was time to be finished having more kids.You know, I've finished up my residency and have traded in my skirts for scrubs. I am a fully certified and practicing pack doctor now. And I’ve decided it is time to focus on my career.” Rose spoke gently.

I knew giving birth was taxing for her, caring for newborns was even more time consuming.We’d gotten by largely with help from our extended family so far, but we knew eventually we’dneed to hire a nanny or put the kids in daycare. Because Rose wanted to begin practicing werewolf medicine soon. So it was time to focus on being there for the kids she had as well as taking care of her pack.

Rose scooted over, patting the space on the bed next to her. I got in, hugging her fiercely and letting my chin rub over the top of her head.

“I love you,” Rose whispered into my shoulder.